While most competitions against other schools are athletic, a handful of Haverford students recently competed in an entirely different arena against other Inter-Ac schools. Hosted on April 12th at Malvern Prep’s Duffy Art Center, the First Annual Friar Nation Battle of the Bands presented a clash of musical prowess.
Two of Haverford’s student bands, The AfFORDables and Cabana, received recognition for their hard work and musical ability.
From the AfFORDables, Fourth Former Alex Scharpf received Best Vocal Performance, backed by Third Former Cliff Wang and Fourth Formers Topher Jodz, Thomas Lentz, and Perry Gilbert.
Similarly, Cabana, composed of Fifth Former James MacColl and Sixth Formers Alex Rhodes, Avery Jones, and Tom Saul, received the Best Overall Band award.
Originally, however, the musicians were unsure whether they would even attend the event.
Sixth Former Tom Saul said, “There was a period of time where we weren’t gonna do it…But then Mr. Struve, who leads a couple of the Haverford Rock bands, emailed us saying that we should do it and that we had a good shot at winning.”
“I convinced the rest of the band that we should do it, so we practiced starting two days before the Battle of the Bands. We decided to do the same set from the winter concert, so it wouldn’t be that hard to get it all back,” said Saul.
Even with the setbacks going into and during the event, the Haverford musicians were able to deliver their performances with style.
“We have pretty good chemistry… I think our band is unique in that we don’t always follow a specific structure,” Saul said. “We just go and play on the fly and feel it out.”
“‘I Shot the Sheriff’—by far it’s the best one. That’s my favorite song in general, and I feel like that was the song we executed the best,” said MacColl.
Rhodes highlighted his favorite moment from the event.
“While they were setting up the sound, a bunch of us, ‘cause we’re musicians, just hopped on the instruments and started playing,” Rhodes said. “We just started jamming, and we’d never met these guys before. It was a really cool experience.”
Fans also noted the event’s uniqueness.
“Contrary to sports games between Haverford and Malvern,” Fourth Former Adam Brown said, “everything was just chill. We were all cheering each other on.”
Ultimately, performers and spectators alike agreed on the value of the event.
According to Sixth Former Alex Rhodes, this is a tradition that should continue.
“I think that this should be a widespread Inter-Ac thing because it is a really unique opportunity for musicians to actually show what they do and maybe win at something,” Rhodes said.
